This triple chocolate layer cake is a three layer cake featuring white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate sponges stacked with luscious vanilla marshmallow fluff buttercream. It's rich, soft and a treat for chocolate lovers looking for something a little different.
Serve this cake with mugs of white hot chocolate or malted hot chocolate.
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Why I Love This Three Layer Cake
- Three distinctly different layers of chocolate cake: white chocolate & vanilla, malted milk chocolate & dark chocolate.
- Hidden secret: At first glance, it's simply a rich chocolate layer cake. But once sliced, the distinct layers reveal themselves, taking it to a whole new level.
- Flavour: This triple chocolate layer cake outshines most ordinary chocolate cakes by miles.
- Texture: The sponge layers are wonderfully light, fluffy, and perfectly moist - proof that this cake delivers on both style and substance.
- Unique buttercream: The marshmallow fluff buttercream stops this three layer cake from being too chocolately.
Jump to:
- Why I Love This Three Layer Cake
- What Is Marshmallow Fluff Buttercream?
- Ingredients Notes
- Equipment Notes
- How To Stop Melted Chocolate From Seizing In Cake Batter
- How to Make Three Layer Chocolate Cake (Step-By-Step Instructions)
- Storage Instructions
- Freezing Instructions
- Expert tips
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Three Layer Cakes
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
If you want to go all out on white chocolate take a look at my white chocolate and raspberry cake, chocolate Baileys cake and my Biscoff, pear & white chocolate cake. But if a three layer cake seems a step too far then try my far simpler Dairy Milk cake - it's guaranteed to put a smile on faces as it's eaten.
What Is Marshmallow Fluff Buttercream?
Marshmallow fluff buttercream is cream cheese frosting with the addition of Marshmallow Fluff & vanilla bean paste mixed in. Marshmallow Fluff is a spreadable marshmallow creme, hugely popular in the US. It is now commonly available in UK supermarkets too - try looking for it alongside Nutella.
This buttercream is everything you could wish for in an icing: sweet, light, fluffy, easy to spread and, without a doubt, a step up from standard vanilla buttercream. It also features in my Pumpkin Pie Whoopie Pies.
Ingredients Notes
Butter/ Baking margarine: It's fine to use either butter or baking margarine for making the sponge cakes. But when it comes to the cream cheese frosting only butter will do. Margarine is a poor substitute here as it lacks depth of flavour and is softer than butter.
Chocolate: Use good quality chocolate when making the sponge cakes. Really cheap chocolate does not always melt well. I have found Callebaut to give consistent results.
Ovaltine: This is a malted milk powder designed to be mixed into hot milk to create a comforting warm milky drink. It's fine to use Horlicks in place of Ovaltine. But whichever brand of malted milk powder you select do ensure that you use the regular 'full-fat' version rather than the 'light' or 'skinny' ones. The latter do not always give fantastic results in baking.
Marshmallow Fluff: For the buttercream frosting, use the original rather than the strawberry version.
Equipment Notes
Please note: the recipe listed is for a three layer chocolate cake made in 6-inch cake pans. This cake is ideal for serving 8-10 people.
These cake pans are smaller than typical ones, which tend to measure 8-inches. I have included some instructions below for scaling up to large pans.
tips when working with chocolate
How To Stop Melted Chocolate From Seizing In Cake Batter
Each layer of this three layer chocolate cake contains real melted chocolate, which gives it an incredibly rich flavour. However, melted chocolatecan sometimes seize when added to cake batter if it is not handled carefully.
A few readers have mentioned this issue, so here are my best tips to help you avoid it:
- Use room temperature ingredients: Cold ingredients are the most common caise of seiezed chocolate. If the batter is too cold, the chocolate can start to set as soon as it is added.
- Work fairly quickly: Chocolate that cools too much after melting becomes harder to mix smoothly. I usually melt it just before I begin to mix the cake batter so it has around 5 minutes to cool slightly while I work.
- Temper the mixture first (important step): Do not pour melted chocolate straight into the batter. Instead, briskly stir one tablespoon of batter into the chocolate first, then fold this mixture back into the main bowl of batter.This helps balance the temperatures and prevents the chocolate from seizing.
Keep these three steps in mind and your chocolate should incorporate smoothly each time.
How to Make Three Layer Chocolate Cake (Step-By-Step Instructions)
- Step 1: Grease and line 3 x 6-inch circular baking tins and preheat the oven.
Melt the 3 types of chocolate in separate bowls. Set aside.
- Step 2: In a bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, using electric beaters.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in 3 tablespoons of the milk and beat again.
- Step 3: Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and fold it in, using a large metal spoon, until just combined.
- Step 4: Divide the cake batter equally into 3 small mixing bowls.
Bowl 1: Fold in vanilla extract.
Bowl 2: Fold in sieved Ovaltine & ½ tablespoon milk.
Bowl 3: Fold in sieved cocoa powder and 1 ½ tablespoons milk.
- Step 5: Now add the melted chocolate to each bowl using the method described above (stir 1 tablespoon of cake batter into the chocolate first, then fold it back into the main bowl).
Bowl 1: White chocolate.
Bowl 2: Milk chocolate.
Bowl 3: Dark chocolate.
- Step 6: Transfer the batters to the prepared baking tins. Bake all three cakes for approximately 20 minutes until they spring back when lightly pressed or a skewer comes out clean.
Rest for 2 minutes then carefully remove the cakes from the tins and cool completely on a baking rack.
- Step 7: Make the marshmallow fluff buttercream: Beat the icing sugar, butter & vanilla paste together until smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat well. Finally, mix in the marshmallow fluff.
- Step 8: Lay the white chocolate cake onto a plate or board. Spread a heaped tablespoon of frosting over it and top with the malted milk chocolate layer.
Spread another heaped tablespoon of frosting over this layer and top with the dark chocolate sponge.
- Step 9: Once the final layer of cake is in place, spread a thin layer of icing all over the top and sides using a palette knife is good for this. This crumb-coating helps to seal in the crumbs. chill the cake for 20 minutes in possible.
Use the remaining icing to add a thicker layer that covers the cake entirely, then carefully move your cake onto a serving plate and touch up the icing if necessary.
- Step 10: Decorate with flaked chocolate and chocolate buttons if desired (I used Cadbury white, milk and dark chocolate buttons).
Storage Instructions
The marshmallow buttercream contains cream cheese so this three layer cake will need to be refrigerated if it is not consumed within a few hours. Just let it come back to room temperature before serving.
Freezing Instructions
The sponge cakes can be made, cooled, wrapped and frozen for up to 2 months. Defrost fulling before proceeding to decorate.
Alternatively, bake & assemble the cake as instructed (but without the chocolate garnishes) then transfer to the fridge for several hours to firm up the buttercream. Wrap the cake carefully and freeze for up to 2 months. Remove the wrap before defrosting. Add the chocolate garnishes when fully defrosted. Individual slices can also be wrapped and frozen.
Expert tips
- Be accurate when measuring ingredients out: Pay careful attention to measures for the best results when baking cakes. I advocate the use of digital scales (and grams) over the cup system.
- Use the correct sized baking tins: This recipe requires 6-inch tins not 8-inch tins.
- Always grease & line the baking tins: Even if they are meant to be non-stick, it's much easier to get the baked cakes out of the tins when they have been greased (base and sides) and lined with baking parchment (base only).
- Heed my earlier advice for adding melted chocolate: Use room temperature ingredients, avoid letting the chocolate cool too much and stir a little batter into the chocolate before combining it with the rest. These steps help ensure a smooth, even batter without the chocolate seizing.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you follow my instructions and tips carefully then this should not happen. However, if despite your best efforts, the chocolate does solidify whilst being mixed into the cake batter my advice is to proceed with baking it regardless.
You may then decide whether or not to use this imperfect layer of cake. If you decide against using it then whip up a fresh layer to use in its place and drop the imperfect sponge cake into the freezer ready to pull out when emergency chocolate cake is required to cheer somebody up.
This recipe uses 3 x 6 inch circular cake tins. If you wish to use standard 8-inch tins, my suggestion is to simply double the recipe. In an ideal world, you would scale up the recipe to bake it using 5 eggs, but that leads to some fiddly measurements. Making double is far easier - just ensure you do not fill your sandwich tins more than ⅔ full with the batter and use the leftover batter to make a few cupcakes. You perhaps will not need to double the buttercream though - I'd suggest making 1.5 times that stated in the recipe.
Over-mixing leads to a dense cake, so mix gently and only until ingredients are just combined. This is especially important here as adding melted chocolate increases the risk.
By all means. Although the marshmallow fluff cream cheese frosting is delicious against the chocolate flavours in this cake you could swap it for vanilla buttercream, white chocolate buttercream, milk chocolate buttercream, dark chocolate & hazelnut buttercream or Swiss meringue buttercream. Get creative!
Yes - go for it! To do this you'll need to apply the marshmallow buttercream in a smooth layer then just drizzle your chocolate ganache around the edge of the cake.
More Three Layer Cakes
I have plenty of decadent & delicious layer cake recipes. Here are a few popular three layer chocolate cakes from my library.
Have you made this triple chocolate layer cake? I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know how you got along by leaving a comment or rating below - it would mean so much to me if you do. You can also show me your creation on Instagram by tagging me @jane_littlesugarsnaps.
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📖 Recipe
Triple Chocolate Layer Cake
Equipment
- Please note: this recipe uses 3 x 6-inch circular cake tins. If you are using standard 8.5 inch tins please see my notes below.
Ingredients
For the Cakes
- 180 g/ 6 ½oz softened butter
- 180 g/ 6 ½oz caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 5 tablespoon milk
- 180 g/ 6 ½oz plain (all purpose) flour (sifted)
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 50 g/ 2oz white chocolate - finely chopped
- 50 g/ 2oz milk chocolate - finely chopped
- 50 g/ 2oz dark chocolate - finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tablespoon Ovaltine (chocolate malt powder)
- 1 ½ tablespoon cocoa powder
For the buttercream
- 125 g/ 4 ½oz softened butter
- 250 g/ 9oz icing (confectioner's) sugar
- 125 g/ 4 ½oz cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 150 g vanilla Marshmallow Fluff
Decoration - 1 Cadbury's flake (or 40g chopped/ grated milk chocolate)
Instructions
Bake the cakes
- Preheat the oven 170°/ 325°F/ GM3
- Grease and line 3 x 6-inch circular baking tins (note these are smaller than average tins - if you are using 8-inch tins see my notes on how to scale up the recipe)
- Melt the 3 types of chocolate in separate bowls. Set aside
- In a bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, using electric beaters. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition
- Add 3 tablespoon of milk and beat again. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix well
- Divide the cake batter equally into 3 small mixing bowls
- For the White Chocolate & Vanilla Sponge: from the first mixing bowl take a tablespoon of the cake batter and stir it quickly into the melted white chocolate. Then gently fold this white chocolate mixture and the vanilla extract back into the bowl containing the rest of the cake batter. This double-action will stop the chocolate from seizing when it is mixed into the cake batter. Gently spoon the batter into one of the baking tins and spread it out with a blunt knife
- For the Malted Milk Chocolate Sponge: stir an extra tablespoon of milk and the Ovaltine powder into the second bowl of cake batter. From this bowl, take a tablespoon of the cake batter and stir it quickly into the melted milk chocolate. Then fold this chocolate mixture back into the rest of the cake batter. Spoon the batter into another of the baking tins & spread it out
- For the Dark Chocolate Sponge: stir an extra tablespoon of milk and the cocoa powder (sifted) into the remaining bowl of cake batter. Quickly mix a tablespoon of this cake batter into the melted dark chocolate, then fold this chocolate mixture back into the rest of the cake batter. Spread the batter into the last of the baking tins
- Bake all three cakes for 20-25 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly pressed or a skewer comes out clean
- Let cool in the tins for 2 minutes, then remove from the tins, peal off the baking parchment from the bottom of each sponge cake and let cool completely on a wire rack
Make the Marshmallow buttercream
- Put the icing sugar, butter & vanilla paste into a large bowl and beat until smooth
- Beat in the cream cheese until smooth, then mix in the marshmallow fluff
Assemble the cake
- Lay the white chocolate sponge cake onto a board and spread a heaped tablespoon of the icing on top, then place the malted milk chocolate cake carefully on top of the layer of icing
- Top with another spoonful of icing, spread it out and add the dark chocolate layer of cake
- Once the final layer of cake has been added, carefully spread a thin layer of icing all over the top and sides of the cake - a palette knife is good for this. I find that coating the cake in a thin layer all over helps to seal in the crumbs. Once you have done this, use the remaining icing to create a thicker layer that covers the cake entirely.
- Carefully move your cake onto a serving plate and touch up the icing if necessary. Once you are satisfied, you can add a pattern if you want to. I used the back of a dessert spoon to lift the icing in places to give a rugged appearance
- Decorate with crushed or chopped chocolate if desired
Notes
- Use room temperature ingredients - melted chocolate will start to reset if it comes into contact with other colder ingredients, so never use chilled ingredients for this recipe. This is perhaps the main reason chocolate seizes when mixed into cake batter.
- Work quickly - chocolate that has cooled too much after melting is the second most likely reason that the chocolate does not mix smoothly into the cake batter, so if you are a slower baker, keep this in mind. I'm a relatively quick baker, so I melt the chocolate before I begin to mix the cake batter. This is so that it can cool for around 5 minutes.
- Stir a tablespoon of cake batter directly into the chocolate and then blend it all back into the remaining cake batter. This step really does help reduce the risk of the chocolate seizing when incorporating it into the cake batter since it helps even-out the differences in temperature between the chocolate and the cake batter.
Klaudia says
I read the entire article and brought all the best ingredients to make this and it’s been a disaster throughout. The white chocolate layer came out flat and crumbly, dark chocolate layer completely disintegrated, milk chocolate layer was ok. Icing is awful to work with and looked messy on the cake at the end.
I went for this recipe because of the good reviews but I’ve had no look making this cake at all. I even tried making the layers again but using a separate batters like I read in the comments (60g of ingredients etc) and it came out the same.
Made this for a special occasion for someone and I’m quite sad it looks like a melted ball of muddy snow.
Jane Coupland says
Hi Klaudia, I'm so sorry to hear that you had so much trouble with this recipe. I never like to see my readers having problems and will always try to troubleshoot if they do. It's a basic sponge cake at the heart of this recipe, adapted to include chocolate, and I've made it countless times, so I do have 100% confidence in the recipe.
First up, can I check you spotted the tin size was 6-inches rather than 8-inches? This could account for the layers being thin. When I hear that the cakes were crumbly/disintegrated, this sounds as if they may have been accidentally over-baked. So I'm wondering if you oven and mind run slightly out of sync from each other? If you do give this recipe another go then check for doneness ahead of the time specified in the recipe. These are the two most likely reasons for trouble given what you've told me, assuming you measured the ingredients accurately, left nothing out and made no substitutions (e.g adapted to make it vegan/ gluten/ dairy-free).
Another query in my mind is the chocolate used - I'd would love to know what brand you used. It can make a world of difference.
As far as the buttercream goes, if it's too loose straight after mixing then letting it sit in the fridge to firm up for a while before applying to the cake is a good option.
Hoping something here resonates with you. Please do get back to me so we can get to the bottom of things for you.
Sarah says
Hey there.
First I want to say greetings from Germany.
I just wanted to know how long should cool down the cakes before stable them. Thanks for your reply
Jane Coupland says
Hi Sarah. The cakes need to come out of the tins after a couple of minutes and be left to cool completely before they are iced. Hope that answers your question 🙂
Maunder says
What size eggs do I use for this recipe please (Uk) large or medium
Jane Coupland says
Hi, go with large eggs for this recipe 🙂
Chantal says
How do you store leftovers?
Jane Saunders says
Hey there Chantel. Leftovers can be stored at room temperature (around 21C/70F) for a day or so even though there is cream cheese in the buttercream - this is because the sugar in the buttercream helps preserve the dairy content. However, if it's a very hot day, I'd advise storing leftovers in the fridge - just ensure that you bring them out about an hour or so before serving to bring the lovely sponge cake back to room temperature.
Likewise, store in the fridge if it's going to be longer than 24 hours before the leftover cake is consumed.
Donna Silva says
What is Cadbury's flake and What is Vanilla Bean Paste? Are they both readily available and can I make vanilla bean paste from the goo inside a vanilla bean?
Thank you,
Donna
Jane Saunders says
Hi Donna, Cadbury's Flake is a chocolate bar made just from milk chocolate - it's very crumbly, so easy to break up and use for decorating cakes and desserts. You can always use grated chocolate in its place though. Vanilla bean paste is pure vanilla, including vanilla bean seeds, in a convenient, syrupy, paste form. It's fine to use the seeds from a vanilla pod if you prefer though. Hope my answers clarify things for you.
Cristina says
Hi! Such a beautiful cake! Can I omit the Ovaltine powder? I can't find it here. Thank you!!
Jane Saunders says
Hi Cristina - you can either substitute another malted milk powder for the Ovaltine or leave it out altogether - in which case don't add the extra tablespoon of milk.
Hope you enjoy it!